GPs asked to promote Government’s NHS App to patients via text

GPs in five areas of England are being asked to promote the new official NHS App to their patients as part of a pilot, the health and social care secretary will announce today.

GPs in Liverpool, Hastings, Bristol, Staffordshire and South Worcestershire have been asked to invite their patients to download the app via text message, Matt Hancock will say.

Pulse had previously learned the NHS App would be piloted from the end of September with around 2,000 patients from ten GP practices.

The initial version of the app will enable patients to book appointments, check their symptoms, order repeat prescriptions, access 111 online for urgent medical queries, and state their preferences for organ donation and data sharing.

And a later update to the app, expected early next year, will allow patients to connect their Apple Watch or FitBit to the app as well as consult with their GP over video.

Speaking at NHS England’s Health and Care Innovation Expo in Manchester, Mr Hancock will say: ‘Now is the moment to put the failures of the past behind us, and set our sights on the NHS being the most cutting-edge system in the world for the use of technology to improve our health, make our lives easier, and make money go further, harnessing the amazing explosion of innovation that the connection of billions of minds through digital technology has brought to this world.’

A notice from the Department of Health and Social Care said this comes as 85% of the public welcome the app, according to analysis by pharmaceutical company Roche.